Customer Reviews

Elvis in the Twilight of Memory

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book a lot! Out of all of Elvis' girlfriends June seems the most "real" of all of them! I have seen her on TV and she seems like a great woman! The times she shared with Elvis are so innocent and he treated her with such respect. It was the Elvis before he was touched by Col. Parker, Hollywood and Vegas. He was a semi-regular guy, Elvis, his mammas son. I was actually suprised how liberal Gladys was with June going into his bedroom in her home. She must have trusted her son a lot and June was a nice girl too. Gladys also seem to have loved June like a daughter. It is too bad his friends and fame had to come between them. I know Elvis had great works ahead of him, despite that it would have been nice if he could have had a real life like a normal person. He had such a good heart and tried so hard to treat others well. June has a wonderful book and I highly recommend this! You will not be unhappy, but more of an Elvis fan than ever!

June Juanico's book is the stuff that summer reading dreams are made of! This book looks back to the happy, simple life of a young Elvis Presley in love--before his hectic life of drugs and fame would send him spinning out of control. This page-turner will make you melt as June describes her passionate tales of love with Elvis, and readers will find themselves falling in love with the often funny, always tender young man. One wonders if June would have stuck around if Elvis would still be alive today. She seems to have had just enough spunk and life to have been able to keep him grounded, and it is clear that she still loves him very much today.

A refreshing, affectionate, funny and ultimately sad look back at what in Elvis' own words were 'the best years of my life'. June takes us on a golden trip down memory lane to a place that we all sometimes like to visit which is what gives the book such a hold...we can all relate to it on some level. Coupled with that June gives a new humanity to a man who has been picked at and slandered from almost every angle over the years. We see them on a day to day level facing the almost impossible rollercoaster ride that was everyday life for Elvis. June conveys so well the enormous pressures that Elvis must have been under for so long without being at all judgemental. The story ends too suddenly with no insight into the feelings that were and must still be left behind. June mentions briefly her sorrow at hearing 'Unchained Melody' being played on the radio the night he died, a song he had sung specially for her 20 years previously and one that she had been waiting for to appear on a record for all those years between. You are left with the feeling that maybe June Juanico, had she stuck around, might have been one person who cared enough and had enough clout to have made a differnce to a man who was so talented and yet lived such a lonely life with no one to really guide him through the turmoil that was his every day existence until the day he died.

An excellent book. A very valuable addition to what must be by now an enormous library of books on the King.

Glasgow, March '99

I totally loved this book. It gives you a glimpse of the true Elvis before all the pressures changed him. And you get a glimpse of what his life was like with his mom and dad.It was a wonderful true love story. I could actually picture myself in the story, June gives such good details!! I think any Elvis fan will come a way with a truely good feeling after having read this book.It's GREAT!!!!

I could not put this book down, I was just taken back in time to those carefree days of being a teenager. You get to know about Elvis' mother and what kind of normal life they tried to lead. I feel that Elvis would have been more stable if June married him. She seemed to stand up to him. But it takes a lot to share a man with so many other women. She made a choice, and stuck with it.

If you want to know what Elvis was really like, as a man and as an artist, before he got caught by fame and by the show business world, I believe this is one of the best books for you. In 1956, June Juanico seems to have had enough personality to deal with a boy friend as famous and requested as Elvis already was. "In the twilight of memory" is a delightful page turner, well written and with so much detail that you can relive every moment June shared with Elvis. With June Juanico's account of her summer romance you learn more about Elvis Presley's personality, charm and charisma than by reading most books on the king's life (Peter Guralnick's excluded)

I truly loved this book. It showed a side of Elvis Presley that is unknown to alot of people. It brought out the young innocent Elvis who seemed every bit as normal as you & me. June obviously was very much in love with him. You could feel the love between them. This seemed to be the side of Elvis who was faithful & wanted to be married & have a family. This was before he became completely overwhelmed by the stardom & drug problems. The two seemed perfect together. The book is also very comical. Elvis & June have a great sense of humor & seem to have so much fun together. It is a wonderful book any Elvis fan would enjoy especially the female fans!

Without mentioning specific sources, the author talks of Elvis' "casual use of the n-word." If someone had mentioned the reviewer's "casual inclination toward pedophilia" I am sure it would cause distress to this reviewer/creep. If Kirkus Reviews ever wishes to be taken seriously, it should find professional reviewers instead of jerks. The words this person wrote are unacceptable.

On last page she is expecting to meet Elvis & show him a photo of her daugher.."spiting-image'..but that never happens. This saga is sad,only in it's ending. A vanquished love- brings tears to those who can emphaszie with what's implied,what Elvis left behind... "what could have been'.

This book is the best book I've read about Elvis. June tells the story with such love with each word she says. You could actually feel the love between them you would think she would've married him. You get to here about a side of Elvis that everyone wishes they could have known. You wish you were the one that fell in love with Elvis. Who doesn't! If any of Elvis's girlfriends could write a book about him no one could beat widdle bitty June's. You have to read the book to figure out where the widdle bitty comes from. She was one lucky lady to have known the one and only Elvis Presley. He is missed by so many people.